What have I done to myself?

I swear, this brewing thing has me hooked. LOL. I look at NB website and other brewshop websites and every time I do, I see something else that I "need". My wish list at NB is growing everyday. LOL. I swear, if I win the lottery, I am going to HAVE to open a brewery!

Anyone else have this addiction? My wife calls it an obsession. I call it research!

Well, I'm pretty fond of the process too, but it's because the brew is so good. If I didn't enjoy the end result, I'd consider it 4th and long.

Rick

I think eventually you peak in terms of need for toys and gear (maybe not necessarily for recipes or ingredients or types of beer to brew.) But once you have all the gear and gizmos that works for whatever your process gets dialed in to. Every year I buy myself the birthday and christmas presents I want, since most of my family doesn't necessarily know what I want. So I buy my own toys. And I really don't know if any of them this year are going to be brewing related. I pretty much have everything. The keezer I built over the summer was my Birthday present to myself.

There's nothing much gear wise I "need" anymore. If I do opt for something brew related, it may be a colona capper to capm wine and belgian bottles, since I'm making wines and meads and stuff these days, or maybe a couple of those 2.5 gallon chinese kegs to make one of those portable cooler keg carriers....But there's no new shiny toy or even basic tool I need to up my game. My first git to myself was an immersion chiller, and over the last 7 years I've gotten just about everything imaginable, turkey fryer, refractometer, oxygen system, stuff like that.

For as long as youve been brewing, revvy, I would imagine there isnt much left for you to buy. LOL. It seems like I want something new everyday, though. Stuff I dont really "need" but want. An immersion chiller, I need...a kegorator...that is something that I WANT. I know that there are a few thngs that I really need but Lord when im on these supply sites, i WANT it all! LOL. I just wish I could find a job so that I can actually BUY something.

right now, its a stretch to buy a hydrometer that I NEED!

We'll just have to keep visualizing you having a job, soon.

The other end of the spectrum is that my original buckets and other fermenters are pretty beat up now. I just retired my first ever bucket. And those things need to be replaced, but that's not as much fun as something shiny and new.

I've got the bug pretty bad. I read quite a bit on brewing, look for new toys to buy or build--I just built a water filter to filter chlorine and chloramines from my tap water for brewing.

Today at the LHBS I spoke to a guy who just did his first brew with extract and you could see the gleam in his eye--ah, the look of the newly addicted. We talked for quite a while and he had lots of questions.

It's pretty safe to say I'm hooked. My cousin is too. This is something he's been wanting to do too and he got hooked when I invited him over to help me on my first batch. We alternate our brew days as sometimes it's at my house and sometimes it's at his.

I helped him brew a batch this past Saturday. I'm glad he's into this as much as me. It gives us both more brewing times, plus we have more beers to sample. We usually give a sixer to each other after a batch is bottled. He'll come over to my house when I get ready to brew mine this weekend (hopefully).



I may have to hit him up for an extra sixer of this last batch. It's NB's winter warmer and if it tastes anywhere close to as good as it smells, that brew will be delicious!

IT never really goes away. I'm as fascinated now as I've ever been, and there is always something else to learn, a new process to move on to, a new technique or style. It's a beautiful hobby for people who's minds don't stop (INTPs, etc).

Yesfan, I'm assuming you are a Yes fan, lol. My neighbor is best friends with Rick Wakeman. His son Adam (Ozzy, Headspace) came for a visit and borrowed my carseats for his kids. Lol.

Every time I pour a brew and look at it in the glass, take a taste , i am just amazed. This is after almost 100 brews. What a great hobby.

sure, I look at new equipment all the time,but do not feel the need that I absolutely have to have it. I am like Revvy. I buy myself a good gift occasionally. My system makes good beer. Some things may be nice but I don't think the beer will be better.

Equipment does not make beer, a good brewer does.

Like the above I'm happy with what I'm making. I'm a stove top extract brewer and I'm fine with it. People who come over and try it think its outstanding . I did buy a new primary because I wanted two in rotation. The biggest thing I did as of late was a kegging system. Man I love it.

I completely agree as well with all the comments. I'm just 5 brews in since starting and have already gone to AG and keep going by my LHBS to keep buying more stuff. I just bought 2 more additional fermenters and some other necessities this weekend so I could start making more brews instead of waiting for one to finish. If there was anything else I'd buy it would be a kegging system and maybe a steel fermenter. Those things are kinda nifty! Other than that, I'm happy with what I've got. And I'm happy as ever with the hobby/obsession

where in marietta do you live? pm me if you dont want it out here

i grew up there and still work there

Im right behind Blackwell elementary off of Canton rd.

What I love about the hobby, besides the beer, is the creative flexibility. While the processes change very little, the end results can be amazingly different and so can the brewers. One guy swears by this way and another swears by that way. Some brewers are anal about following recipes and measurements exactly, while others fly by the seat of their pants and just throw stuff in willy-nilly. Some brew to exact styles and others fuse and blend. Some monkey with their beer constantly but others dial in a batch and make it exactly the same over and over. There's lots of room for personality and expressing yourself in your brew.

While there is a lot of items just begging to be bought to make your brewing hobby more exciting, there actually very little that you **NEED** to brew beer. A pot to boil in and a sanitary fermenter will be about the minimum. Everything else is just a want.

I get it. I have been at it for a month but already have two brews in bottles. I also now have 4 fermenters (all of them full as we speak) and have already moved to BIAB partial mash brewing. Anytime I look at NB's website I see loads of things I want (and that doesn't even include my want for a chest freezer and controller so that I can brew lagers). It's a bit lucky that I took this up around Christmas because I can finally answer the question: "What do you want for Christmas?"

RM-MN said:

While there is a lot of items just begging to be bought to make your brewing hobby more exciting, there actually very little that you **NEED** to brew beer. A pot to boil in and a sanitary fermenter will be about the minimum. Everything else is just a want.

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Not true at all! A damnable lie!

"I NEEEEEEEEEEED a really nice new shiny conical fermenter with temperature control and all the bells and whistles. Yes, I do! Don't look at me that way. Honey? Think of it as an investment in great beer. Our daughter probably won't get into an expensive college anyways. Honey?"

Revvy said:

I think eventually you peak in terms of need for toys and gear (maybe not necessarily for recipes or ingredients or types of beer to brew.)

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Agreed. I also think it's related to your own brewing philosophy. For some folks the automated E-HERMS system with the iPad remote control interface is their ultimate dream--brew while you're at work! For me, I like to keep things as simple as I can, if someone gave me a $10,000 brew setup I'd sell it and buy a VW bus.

I think some folks tend to get caught up in the idea that "if I just get that next piece of equipment, then I'll really be able to brew great beer!" To me, that's missing the point--YOU are the one who controls how good your beer is, not your toys. Not to say that there aren't certain things that improve your product or your process in some way, but I try to be careful about adding things just for the sake of adding them. But again, diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

Cheers

My first batch of extract is in my primary and I should be bottling in a day or two, but I'm already buying things I will need to go partial mash and then all grain. I guess mother nature made me impatient but this is something I always wanted to do. Retirement has now given me the time.
My toys are: 46Ford street Rod, A motorcycle that I built and a 1957 Continental MK II.

Merry Christmas

Oldskooler said:

My first batch of extract is in my primary and I should be bottling in a day or two, but I'm already buying things I will need to go partial mash and then all grain. I guess mother nature made me impatient but this is something I always wanted to do. Retirement has now given me the time.
My toys are: 46Ford street Rod, A motorcycle that I built and a 1957 Continental MK II.

Merry Christmas

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Oh, so you went to the big box lumber/hardware store and got your pair of paint strainer bags?

Yup!

Dear Santa,
I want a 7.5 to 8 gallon kettle, a propane burner, 10 gallon beverage cooler, vinerator, bench capper, 2 more buckets and a fermentation chamber (the parts to build one anyway). I have been a very good boy and spoil my grandkids.
P.S. There will be a very nice scotch ale and beer nuts waiting for you, just put Rudolph on auto pilot. :-D